IN 2019 SELFDRIVING SHUTTLES WILL HIT THE STREETS IN VIENNA

From 2019, two autonomous Shuttles will operate in Seestadt Aspern / Vienna to better connect the major urban development site and its inhabitants to the metro. Until 2028, more than 10.000 apartments will be built and up to 20.000 people will work on the former airport. The development project, which started construction in 2009, aims to reduce traffic and embraces the opportunity to establish new forms of mobility behaviour from the beginning. The project behind the selfdriving vehicle, auto.bus – Seestadt, consists of diverse Stakeholders that aim to improve the shuttles efficiency and safety alongside this major urban development project.

Auto.bus – Seestadt
The electric Navya-shuttle offers space for 10 passengers and operates at a speed of 20km/h. Due to the accompanying research, the shuttle will be free of charge. Before operating on a regular level, the selfdriving shuttle will be tested on specific testing grounds like closed streets and garages, also the route will be mapped and scanned in detail during the year 2018.

The members of auto.bus – Seestadt, consisting of Wiener Linien, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology), KFV (Bord of trustees for traffic safety), TÜV Austria, Siemens AG Austria and Navya, collaborate in order to better understand and further develop selfdriving technology. Wiener Linien, the provider of public transport in Vienna, aims to gain knowledge that helps to understand how autonomous shuttles can be integrated into the transport system of Vienna.

It will be interesting to see the role of this technology in the future mobility-strategies of the City of Vienna and how the inhabitants of the Seestadt adopt this new transport mode in their daily mobility routines. As the Seestadt Aspern will be in a process of constant development and progress over the next years, this project is of special interest as it therefore offers many possibilities in integrating selfdriving technology to urban development from the beginning, where mobility routines have not been established yet.